REYKJAVIK, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Thousands of Icelanders demonstrated in Reykjavik on Saturday demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Geir Haarde and Central Bank Governor David Oddsson for failing to stop a financial meltdown in the country.

It was the latest in a series of protests in the capital since the financial meltdown that crippled the island's economy.

Hordur Torfason, a well-known troubadour in Iceland and the main organiser of the protests, said the protests would continue until the government stepped down.

"They don't have our trust and they are no longer legitimate," Torfason said as the crowds gathered in the drizzle before the Althing, the Icelandic parliament.

A separate group of 200-300 people gathered in front of the city's main police station demanding the release of a young protester being held there, Icelandic media reported.

Police in riot gear used pepper spray to drive back an attempt to free the protester during which several windows at the police station were shattered. The protester was later released after a fine he had been sentenced to pay was paid.

Iceland's three biggest banks -- Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir -- collapsed under the weight of billions of dollars of debts accumulated in an aggressive overseas expansion, shattering the currency and forcing Iceland to seek aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

This week, the North Atlantic island nation of 320,000 secured a package of more than $10 billion in loans from the IMF and several European countries to help it rebuild its shattered financial system.

Despite the loans, Iceland faces a sharp economic contraction and surging unemployment while many Icelanders also risk losing their homes and life savings.

A young man climbed onto the balcony of the Althing building, where the president appears upon inauguration and on Iceland's national day, and hung a banner reading: "Iceland for Sale - $2.100.000.000", the amount of the loan Iceland is getting from the IMF.

The rally lasted less than one hour and as daylight began to wane, demonstrators drifted away into the nearby coffee shops where the price of a cup of coffee has shot up to 300 kronas in the last few weeks, up by about one third from before the crisis struck, as the currency has tumbled.

Opposition parties tabled a no-confidence motion in the government on Friday over its handling of the crisis, but the motion carries little chance of toppling the ruling coalition which has a solid parliamentary majority.

"I've just had enough of this whole thing," said Gudrun Jonsdottir, a 36-year-old office worker.

"I don't trust the government, I don't trust the banks, I don't trust the political parties, and I don't trust the IMF. We had a good country here and they've ruined it."

My reaction: It looks like Icelanders are progressing from a state of shock to a state of anger. I expect events will continue to detiorate towards violence and anarchy. The scary part is that, when the treasury bubble bursts, America's disintegration will be far worse than anything Iceland experiences.

0 Responses to Events Turning Violent In Iceland

I hope they hang the PM and his wife. They can run the bankers into the freezing cold sea. Iceland will be worse than the USA because the Icelanders are decendants of Vikings and have actual balls. Girly men here in the US will politely load themselves into the railcars to go to the concentration camps;

Contrary to Hollywood images, true psycopaths don't hide out in dark alleys waiting to slash at passersby ; they hide out in boardrooms seeking ultimate control and obnoxious wealth. At all costs. Maybe the financial world is in need of a major "exorcism".

The events ocurring in Iceland are definitely ominous for the U.S. We too have been sold out, although the actual selling happened long ago, while most of the country slept. The question is what will happen once the majority wakes up to what has happened?

To the first commenter, no, it will be far worse in the US. Maybe you don't realize just how many people here are blithering idiots with no sense of community and horribly self-centered. Now combine those idiots with increasing ownership of firearms and things look scary. Just take a trip through Alabama and you'll see what I'm saying quite clearly; I know, I live here.

The US Fed is a malevolent blood-sucking parasite that isdraining America dry. Read G.Edward Griffin's "TheCreature From Jekyll Island" andyou will understand that they andtheir thieving investment banksare at the heart of these crises.It is by design.